39. Chapter 39

Chapter 39

L ayla jolted out of her position when a loud scraping sound echoed in the warehouse. The tension around her rose to overwhelming levels, and a few whimpers came from the cages around her.

She pushed to her knees and remembered not to move off the small mat. Around her, the other wolves had withdrawn into themselves, hugging their knees tighter. It was only when she caught the familiar scent that she understood what was happening.

Somewhere in the warehouse, the Hunters had opened a door. The air shifted as fresher air came in from the other side of the doors, and heavy boots echoed in the room. Her body was taut with tension, but it rose even higher when she heard the dragging sounds and the moans.

They were dragging someone else into the room! She blinked and tried to focus, but her head was still swimming because of whatever drug they used to knock her out. Whoever they brought smelled familiar.

‘Don't bring attention to yourself, or you'll be next.'

She didn't look back at Faith when she heard her scared voice in her head, but the words sent a chill down her spine. Next for what?

Her question was answered a few seconds later when the Hunters appeared around some of the cages. They had almost the same hunting gear as on the day she first met them— black combats, weapons strapped to muscular torsos, and instead of the soft shoes that helped them keep their footsteps quieter in the forest, they wore heavy military boots. The scent of death intensified as they started to walk down the aisle her cage was in.

Their scent.

It was worse than the scent she had breathed in since the Hunters threw her into the cage.

Two more Hunters appeared behind them, and between them, dragging on the rough, concrete floor, was an injured man. He wasn't moaning anymore. His head hung as they dragged him by his arms, and blood dripped from open wounds. His heartbeat was very faint. Would he be another casualty?

As they came past her cage, she recognised the scent—one of theirs. The tortured wolf was from her pack. A small gasp left her lips before she could stop it. The four Hunters stopped and whipped their heads around to look at her in unison as if they were machines.

The Hunter closest to her cage was young and scarless, unlike the terrifying man she spoke to in the forest. He was beautiful and could easily have been a wolf himself.

But his eyes were dead. There was no emotion in the depths of his blue eyes. Even animals held something of themselves in their eyes, but this Hunter had absolutely nothing.

They started to move again, and she looked down at the wolf they dragged on the floor. It was one of the scouts who went out earlier to check on things. Did they torture him for information? No, it didn't seem like it. His wounds were shaped like bite marks—an animal did that to him. And he was still bleeding, not healing like he should have been.

They opened a cage on the second level, a few cells beyond hers and on the opposite side. The two Hunters dragging the scout hoisted him and threw him in as if he weighed nothing. And then she heard a sizzle and the scent of burning. The scout didn't regain consciousness to move fully onto the mat.

When they locked the cage, they turned as one and started to walk back. Monsters! How could they do that to another living being? Wolves were taught their whole lives to avoid Hunters, to run from any fights with them. So what could they possibly have done to piss off the Hunters? Why did they have to kidnap people going about their own business?

The Hunters stopped again when they were in front of her cage and turned to face her.

Behind her, Faith's fear skyrocketed. Her sniffles increased. Was it her turn now? She didn't think the little gasp brought their attention to her; she was sure they would have stopped anyway. She was the newest arrival to whatever hellhole this was.

‘Don't fight them, my Queen. There are too many of them.'

She looked away from the Hunters to see the scout struggling to move onto the mat, no longer unconscious as he fought the silver poisoning his already broken body. How could he still call her his Queen? Why was he worried about her when he was the one who was hurt? That he would even take time to warn her when he was going through so much broke her heart.

As if she could fight anyone. They had placed her on a pedestal since she'd killed the witch that turned their world upside down, but her wolf wouldn't save her from whatever was going to happen. With whatever drugs they put in her system, she was even less in touch with that blood-thirsty side of her.

The loud clanking of the lock brought her attention back to the monsters in front of her. One grabbed her arm before she could evade them and yanked her out of the cage. She landed on the floor on her shoulder, and her head slammed onto the concrete floor. Pain shot through her whole body, momentarily clearing the fog in her head.

And still, her wolf didn't come to her aid. The wolf that had talked her into facing the Hunters in the first place. The wolf that had convinced her she was supposed to rescue Faith and the others.

She was yanked roughly to her feet, and a warm trickle fell from her forehead down the side of her face.

‘Be strong, Miss Layla. I'm confident Alpha will be here soon."

She looked back at Faith as they pulled her away. Despite being strongly bonded to them, Jax hadn't been able to find any of them. She wanted to believe their bond was stronger, and he would find them because of it. But the thought of Jax being at the mercy of those monsters made her nauseous.

The cut on her forehead was still bleeding. It should have started healing already, but whatever they did to her when they captured her must have been blocking her natural abilities. What they did to all of them. That scout didn't look like he would last long if they got him out again.

As they came out of the aisle, she sucked in a breath and froze. The warehouse was more extensive than she first imagined. The cages she hadn't been able to see far outnumbered what she had estimated, and they were piled higher. More wolves were lying down on the silver bars, unmoving. No heartbeats.

"Move!"

The Hunter behind her shoved her so hard it felt like a punch. She stumbled and almost fell to her knees, but the monsters beside her grabbed her arms and dragged her forward. Their fingers bit into her arms so hard she felt their nails breaking her skin. But she wasn't worried about herself. As they passed row after row of cages, her gaze fell on all the wolves occupying them. The conscious wolves looked down at her, tears shimmering in some of their eyes and resignation in others. Others had their arms hanging out of the cage as if they had made a last-ditch attempt to break their locks before they succumbed to the silver.

"What have you done to them?" she hissed.

There was no answer. She didn't expect one, but her anger rose with each step towards the door.

The monster at the front banged twice on the door, and a lock turning echoed. And then, once again, the door scraped along the floor as it slid open.

The fresher air hit her immediately, but her heart sank when she looked around her. They weren't outside. The warehouse seemed to be just one room in a huge facility. Similar doors lined the wide hallway as far as her eyes could see. Were there wolves in each of them, as well? Two Hunters guarded each entrance, fully strapped like the ones dragging her along. They kept their gazes forward even as they walked past them, unmoved by the fact that four huge men were manhandling her.

At the end of the hallway, the air was clean. Scented like flowers, with the air conditioner on. The whirring was quiet enough that it didn't overwhelm her muddled senses. And all around them were men and women in white coats.

Her jaw dropped when she saw them gathered in groups or walking into various rooms. The truth fell on her shoulders like a tonne of bricks. How could this be? How could anyone be so inhuman? They weren't torturing wolves; they were experimenting.

A man walked into one room without looking at her, and before the door swung closed, she saw the woman strapped to a table in what looked like a glass prison. Her mouth was open as if she was screaming, but no sound came from her lips.

Why were they doing this? Death would have been a better option. But now the Hunters reduced them to nothing more than defenceless animals being led to the slaughter.

How was she supposed to help anyone get out? The place was too big and the Hunters were on every corner. And all the wolves were drugged, stripped of everything that made them who they were. They were nothing more than human. Only a miracle would save them.

A large door marked ‘Restricted' loomed in front of her. Instead of two guards, eight huge men stood in front of it, four on either side. Her heels dug into the floor subconsciously, but it was no use against the men dragging her towards it.

What could be worse than what she saw them doing to the poor woman in the glass-walled prison that they needed eight men to guard? Was that where they took the scout? Somewhere where animals bit him?

The image of the Hunters' hounds filled her mind as they got closer. She saw those monsters in the forest; if an animal made those marks on the scout, it would be one of those terrifying things.

Her heart beat loudly against her chest as she started to struggle.

"Why are you doing this? Let me go?" she screamed shakily.

She didn't want to die. Her life was Jax's and vice versa. She couldn't be the reason Hope became an orphan.

But as they approached the end of the hallway, the Hunters turned, dragging her away from the restricted door. Her useless struggling lessened as she looked back at the ominous door. Maybe it wasn't her turn in there yet. Something in the back of her mind told her that it was not somewhere she wanted to go.

Her heart rate just started to settle when another set of doors opened, and she was thrown to the ground inside. Her body scraped uselessly along the floor until she slammed against the wall. Hunters were a lot stronger than she imagined. Jax didn't tell her they were stronger than wolves.

She brought her hand to her already injured head as she struggled to her feet. The Hunters lined up against the wall, and the door locked behind them.

"Welcome, Miss Carlisle. Shall we begin?"

The voice from her nightmares.

She turned too quickly and fell on her knees before the man who'd spoken. The leader. The man who would make Hope an orphan.